Stackable RF filter for a receiver or transmitter
AssigneeThinkRF Corporation
InventorsGilbert Brunette, Jeffrey Michael Hill, Theodore Pantazopoulos, Jasvinder Singh Obhi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A receiver or transmitter designed for a broad range of frequencies requires a pre-select filter for incoming signals or a post-select filter for outgoing signals to minimize spurious signal responses. In conventional receivers, several discrete RF filters are used and a switched filter bank is created utilizing a large amount of space. A filter bank comprising a plurality of stacked shielded filters would enable different filter technologies and topologies to be used together, as other passive and active circuits may be combined into the one surface mountable component in order to save on PCB space.
Claims15
An RF filter device for mounting on a PCB comprising:
- an electrical to optical transducer for converting an electrical input signal to an optical input signal;
- an input optical switch including at least one input for inputting the input optical signal and a plurality of outputs;
- an optical filter stack including a plurality of optical filters, each optical filter connected to one of the plurality of outputs from the input switch and capable of filtering a selected frequency range;
- an output optical switch including a plurality of inputs, and at least one output for outputting a filtered optical signal, each input connected to one of the plurality of optical filters;
- an optical to electrical transducer for converting the filter optical signal to a filtered electrical signal;
- wherein the input optical switch and the output optical switch are mounted in or on the optical filter stack;
- wherein the plurality of optical filters comprises a plurality of superposed filters, each superposed filter comprising:
- an optical filter layer;
- and
- a dielectric layer on each side of the optical filter layer.
An RF filter device for mounting on a PCB comprising:
- an electrical to optical transducer for converting an electrical input signal to an optical input signal;
- an input optical switch including at least one input for inputting the input optical signal and a plurality of outputs;
- an optical filter stack including a plurality of optical filters, each optical filter connected to one of the plurality of outputs from the input switch and capable of filtering a selected frequency range;
- an output optical switch including a plurality of inputs, and at least one output for outputting a filtered optical signal, each input connected to one of the plurality of optical filters;
- an optical to electrical transducer for converting the filter optical signal to a filtered electrical signal;
- wherein the plurality of optical filters comprises a plurality of superposed filters, each superposed filter comprising:
- an optical filter layer;
- a dielectric layer on each side of the optical filter layer;
- and
- metal insulation layers above and below the dielectric layers for insulating each optical filter from other optical filters above and/or below.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.